#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Biden signs COVID bill; Black farmers debt relief; COVID-19 1yr later; Prof. axed for racist remarks

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

3.11.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Biden signs COVID bill; Black farmers get $5B in debt relief; COVID-19 1yr later, what have we learned? 3rd degree murder charge has been reinstated against Derek Chauvin; Georgetown professor axed for complaints about Black studentsSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Să ne vedem la următoarea mea rețetă! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Today is Thursday, March 11, 2021, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. President Joe Biden signed the COVID relief bill today ahead of schedule $1.9 trillion. The bill includes $5 billion for black farmers. We'll talk with the president of the Black Farmers Association. Also, President Biden's senior advisor, Cedric Richmond, will join us to talk about what else is in the package. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. How much has changed and what have we learned?

We'll talk with a black doctor about that. The third-degree murder charge has been reinstated against Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd. We'll tell you about your selection today. And the Georgetown University adjunct law professor who complained about black students on a Zoom call has been fired. We'll break that down as well. It is time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it Filter. Let's go. Just for kicks, he's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin

Now The best you know, he's rolling, Martin. Martin. One year ago today, folks, was the day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Cases were rising in the United States, and Donald Trump could no longer say that the virus would magically disappear. At that time, there were roughly 1,200 cases in the United States, and 40 people had died. A year later, almost 30 million known infections have taken place, and 526,000 people have died in the United States alone. A whole lot has changed. Everything has changed. Our school, virtual, our meetings, office buildings have emptied, restaurants have shut down, travel has halted in many places. Although some states are opening up, we've still seen a massive amount of change, not only in this country, but also across the world. Have we learned anything? Joining me now is Dr. Kimberly

Butler-Willis. She's the Director of Community Health at Roper St. Francis Healthcare in Charleston, South Carolina, and also Managing Director of Goodstock Consulting. Certainly glad to have you with us, Dr. Butler-Willis. It is amazing to think about a year ago how, and for me, in fact, it's crazy. I was, my last trip was in South Carolina. I was in Charleston. I was in, I was there for the, for the primary. And we started hearing about these things. And all of a sudden, March hits. And then it was really when sports leagues, when the NBA shut it down,

that is when the whole country went, what the hell? Because when you start shutting sports down, you know stuff has gotten serious in America. That's right. That's right. And unfortunately, it took sports shutting down for the general population to really understand what we were under. Those of us that work in health care, we knew that we were under attack and we were doing our best to make sure that we got that message out to the general community. But it took us having some inconveniences and even some sacrifices in order for people to really wake up. But then again, we were under a federal administration that was not properly warning the community as well. So I can't really blame us so much, especially when our leaders weren't giving us the right direction. There were so many things that we were told then.

We had a massive mask shortage. We were told not to wear a mask, primarily because they wanted to keep it for emergency workers. We didn't know exactly, and again, what was happening, who was impacted. What do we do? Do we stay indoors? Do we go outside? I mean, all those different things were happening. There are a lot of people who have been highly critical um of doctors but the reality is we hadn't seen anything like this in the united states to that degree in a hundred years since the spanish flu uh so for me i gave medical professionals a huge pass because while we were

trying to figure out y'all were trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Absolutely. And not only were we trying to figure out what was going on, but we were trying to save lives while we're trying to figure out what's going on. Because it's not like since COVID came to the hospital, we stopped receiving our stroke patients, our heart attack patients, our asthmatic children. So we were still dealing with so many other chronic conditions that America is already known for on top of this very mysterious virus that we thought was respiratory comes to find out actually infects your blood. So it could attack any function, any organ in your body. And it was so elusive that we didn't even have time to figure it out. We were essentially building a plane while we were flying it. And we all know how dangerous that could be. Here we are a year later. There's so much that we have learned. What, though, is your greatest frustration that you still see in the country when it comes to

COVID-19? Health disparities. Still, we could do such a better job with focusing on those social determinants of health. You know, I have a PhD in public health, so not to be confused with a medical doctor at all, but it's really COVID has given us public health folks an opportunity to really sound the alarm and say, this is what we've been saying all along. It's not just about treating conditions, but it's about treating the whole patient. In fact, I heard a doctor say, I prescribed, I called a patient noncompliant when in fact the patient was illiterate. So we have to start to consider the social dynamics

in which the social context and social environments and physical environments in which our patients live if we truly want to start talking about prevention and full wellness in healthcare. We are right now in the midst of the vaccine. And you have folks like Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland and others who are saying that African-Americans don't want to take the vaccine. I'll talk to Dr. Ebony Hilton about this. I've been talking to others.

They say, no, that's not the issue. Black folks, it's a matter of the information, where to go, how to sign up, how to even access. Is that what you're also seeing? Exactly, Roland. And I am so tired of hearing health care institutions about that kind of lie. That allows us to take the responsibility off ourselves to get the vaccine to those people. So it's not that African-Americans do not want the vaccine to those people. So it's not that African Americans do not want the vaccine. It's that they want to be informed about the vaccine. They want to be empowered about the vaccine. And the best way that we can do that is to make sure that we give them all of the information possible that they can make the best health care decisions for themselves and

their families. So stop saying that. We want the vaccine. In fact, we want you to bring it to our back doors. But we also need you to come and talk to us about it and make sure that we feel educated about this decision and this choice and not forced into this new vaccine that we just came up with. Because that's how it feels. We have a generational history of mistrust in health care. And it's about time that health care organizations, including my own, we have to acknowledge that and we have to go into these communities with a humble face, verbally saying that we know what we've done in the past, but this is our shot, no pun intended, to get it right. We talk about where we are with the vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson, their vaccine is coming online. You have Moderna, you have Pfizer. I get this question a lot. I've even asked the question. In fact, I texted Dr. Hilton last night. I hear people who are like, look, I'd rather have Moderna. I'd rather have Pfizer. Johnson & Johnson is one shot.

I'd rather have that. Walk folks through the three different shots. Is there really any big difference? So the largest difference, I would say, so Pfizer and Moderna are more alike. They're the two doses. They have the highest efficacy levels. Johnson & Johnson's a little lower on the efficacy. There's only one shot, but it still will keep you out of the hospital and out of the graveyard.

And that's really what we're trying to do right now. We want to stop the bleeding. So either of these vaccines are potent, they are reliable, and they will keep you from dying. And that's really all that we need to do. And I suspect that in the future, we'll revolutionize this vaccine. We'll get better at it, much like we've done with the flu shot. And so there may be something new to present to the population next year, especially as these variants are coming out. But just so that you know, all three vaccines are safe. All three will keep you out of the hospital. All three will keep you out of the grave. It's really up to you to decide which one would be

best for you. We have states that are opening up, Texas, Mississippi and others. It has to be greatly frustrating to see folks lifting mask mandates and saying 100% completely open? It's insulting, actually. It's not just insulting to health care workers, but it's insulting to those families who have lost loved ones. We know that we're not there yet. We are just at, what, about 19% of the population has been vaccinated. We have to get to 75% in order to reach herd immunity. And so if we have states like Mississippi and Texas, Texas, one of the largest states in the United States, opening the floodgates again, it's only going to take us back. And I'm not sure why these governors don't understand that.

We're so close to the finish line. We're so close to getting back to those football games. We're so close to getting back to church services. We're so close to getting back to grandma's house for dinner. But we can't get there if we're not all in. All right, then. I want to bring my panel in right now. Of course, every Thursday, we have Dr. Greg Carr, Chair, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, Recy Colbert, Black'll start with you, Erica. A year ago, early on, we had folks on from your home, from your home city of Albany, where many, you know,

there was a funeral that took place there and COVID spread like wildfire. The morgue was filling up, folks dying, and folks were absolutely scared to death of how widespread this thing could be. We. There we go. Thank you. I mean, here we go. There you go. Yeah, that helps. But yeah, it's hard to believe that that was a year ago. And shortly after you provided that coverage, Roland's still hard to talk about, but to try to save her life. And the best efforts that were provided just weren't enough. And that was really the beginning of a now 500 and almost 30,000 people grieving process that we have collectively endured as a country.

And then speaking to Albany, and now we're seeing microcosms of Albany that have popped up all around this nation that now, hopefully with age restrictions, the CDC reconsidering that, that those folks who are suffering the most, which would be Black and folks of color. 40 percent of Black and people of color work in service industries, hoping that they would be fully vaccinated. We're still, you know, seeing issues in that area. And so a year later, you know, here we are still fighting the good fight, still burying people. But what is new that's on the horizon, as you spoke with our initial guest, was we now have three vaccines. And so as people begin to understand

what these vaccines mean, not only for them, but for the community and really for the world at large, it is really my hope that people will continue to engage Roland Martin and filter to get the latest on what's unfolding with COVID, but also to do their own research on vaccinations and make their vaccination plan. Or if there still is, folks are still not really confident around the vaccine, that they do talk to somebody that they do trust within the medical, the public health community to help them to understand what it would mean to get a vaccine. It's not just a vaccine for us. It is essentially a vaccine for our entire collective. So it's hard to believe

also that the last time I think we were all in the studio together was March 3rd. It was after Super Tuesday coverage. So a lot has shifted. A lot has changed, but we still have an incredible water fight. And it is just really my hope that people do explore any opportunity to be vaccinated and make the best decision that they can, not only for themselves, but for the community around them. To that point, Dr. Butler-Willis, we're already hearing this right now where the CDC is recommending that if folks have gotten vaccinated, they can get together in small groups. I know some other folks who are saying they still don't want to do that with their grandparents

because people want to see their grandparents. They want to see their parents. My parents are both 73, grandparents because people want to see their grandparents. They want to see their parents. My parents are both 73. But there are so many people who still are so afraid that something could happen. They're like, no, no, no. I want I want to give this a little more time that we have sort of this that, you know, a much longer stretch of things going well before I take that chance. Absolutely, Roland. And I would advise the same. This is still a very novel virus. And thankfully, we have these vaccine options. But we're not exactly sure if you can still transmit COVID. So although you're protected, can you still transmit it if you

contract it? We don't know that yet. And so we do encourage people, although vaccinated, still wear your mask, still wash your hands, still socially distance. So just be as safe as you would if you weren't vaccinated, because there are still too many unknowns. Recy, for you, it's interesting. I was so, you know, you're expecting I was supposed to do. I remember last year, one of the greatest concerns people had were for women who were pregnant. Yeah. Impact. There were doctors who were choosing not to go home because they did not want to infect their children and their spouses. They were sleeping in cars. There were

athletes who were freaking out, who began to opt out by saying, look, I got my wife is a newborn kid. I'm not chance of this whole deal as well. And it was amazing to watch really how this country we were completely freaking out because folks simply had no idea how lethal this was, especially when we, I remember the stories of the bus driver in Detroit where somebody coughed on the bus and literally within a week he's dead. Yeah. I mean, being pregnant during this pandemic has definitely made it the longest nine months of my entire life. But it's so, it's just really, really isolating to be pregnant in a pandemic. You know, my husband hasn't been able to see any ultrasounds. You know, aside from being in the emergency room, he has to wait in the car or wait at home. And, you know, the one thing my doctor said over and over again is don't get COVID.

You know, so I've been isolating, you know, this entire quarantine, but particularly as a pregnant woman. And the pandemic isn't over for me. For me, it's scary to see things like states opening back up. But when I go to the doctor, I still have to have on a KN95 mask. I'm going to have to deliver a baby with the mask on. I can only have my husband with me in the hospital. I can't have any visitors.

And so the pandemic is still very much a real thing for people like me. I can't get vaccinated. It's not known what impact it will have on pregnant women. Luckily for me, my husband has been vaccinated. My mother-in-law and my mom have both been vaccinated. So that does open up some doors for at least me to feel a little bit more comfortable. But, yeah, being pregnant in a pandemic, it sounds all good because you're not missing out on anything, but it's very, very, very much just an isolating and completely

different experience than anybody could ever imagine. Dr. Greg Carr, you've had to do with a whole bunch of teachers and professors have done trying to educate students online in a whole different environment, totally different than having lectures in the classroom. How is this adjustment last year been for you, your students, faculty, and staff at Howard University? Well, I can say this, Roland. I think as Senator Raphael Warnick said on your program last year, COVID-19 exposed COVID-16-19. And so all the structural inequalities we have have been brought to bear. And I've been in nonstop conversation with educators, K-12 especially. You've got young people who simply in trying to manage getting from day to day have disappeared from online education, have disappeared from school. We won't know the implications of this for quite

some time. For me, this moment has rejuvenated me in some ways because it jail broke the structural problems that we often face in under-resourced places like historically Black colleges. Many of my colleagues are trapped in the white nationalist-controlled states in the South, which is where most of our 105 HBCUs are, and have been forced back into the classroom because some of those schools need the revenue and the states, whether it be South Carolina, whether it be Georgia or Texas, have demanded that they go back to campus, particularly the state schools. That has created an emotional tsunami. This has brought out, and for me, it's not only easy to manage as an individual, it's actually allowed me to engage in work beyond the physical classroom. And as we know, disasters, traumas accelerate trends.

This is where we were headed. And so I'll end with this in a moment. Everyone is going to do more of who they are and what they were doing before this thing hit. So whether it be Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, I expect, you know, Naomi Klein calls it disaster capitalism. There will be, as Dr. Willis has said, there are going to be more vaccines. They're going to make windfalls of profits. Lives are going to come from our tax dollars. And I appreciate you, Doc, saying this is going to keep us from dying and keep us from being sick. And as we know, we don't know the long-term impacts because it hasn't been any long-term impact. But that same thing is true for teachers. Teachers are coming up with different ways of teaching and learning that aren't reliant on huge infusions of resources. So when this is

over, education is going to be transformed, whether we want it or not. And the best thinking is what we will have to apply to the problem of how do we now build a system where there wasn't one before? Because believe it or not, there was no efficient system of education in this country, and this is what this pandemic has exposed. To that particular point there, Dr. Willis, there were a lot of people. When I think about, we had a 50 can as education reform group, I'm one of the board directors. We actually share offices with them here, World of Modern Unfiltered. We had a board call today and I made this point that there were a lot of people who could not stand distance learning.

They could not stand online. They didn't like people working from home. They said it couldn't work. Then, of course, a year ago, we had no choice. There were those who were saying, oh, we'll be back in school in the fall. And I kept saying, no, we're not. And I remember in April and May, I kept telling people, hey, y'all, it's going to be October 2021 at the earliest. I said, frankly, it's going to be more like 2022. People are like, oh, man, you got to be crazy. I'm like, okay, all right. Y'all go right ahead. Keep thinking that things are going to be that way. Churches, so many churches, especially a lot of black churches, they did not, they couldn't stand

off. Don't come in with that Facebook, YouTube stuff. Now, all of a sudden I was getting calls from pastors all around the country. I was doing webinars trying to teach folks all of a sudden on the fly. We are forever changed. And I'm telling you right now, people keep saying, when can we get back to where it used to be? That ain't happening. I think going to offices has changed. I think all the stuff that we touched has changed. I believe education is going to be forever changed. Elementary school, middle school, high school, college. I think same thing. Look, pastors have already said you can forget building large churches. Many of them are now realizing that they may not get members coming back. Folks may want to continue doing what we what we always call a bedside Baptist on Sunday. And so I just think that people need to realize that the way of life we had pre-COVID

is not going to return once everybody in this country has been vaccinated, even a year or two years from now. It is forever changed. We cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube at this point, right? And so I love what Dr. Gregg mentioned, because this is really our time, especially black and brown people, to fight for what we know we deserve. Because the system is broken. It is down. It is weak. This is the time to stand up and to advocate for your rights. Because companies are listening.

Healthcare systems are listening. Because they don't want to be called a racist. And so use that to your advantage. You said, Dr. Gregg, people are going to continue being exactly who they are. In fact, I'm going to add an explanation point to it. You're going to continue to be exactly who you were before COVID, but use this to your advantage. Because if companies are going to start to say and put out all these messages about how equitable they want to be and how they're recognizing you black and brown folks. And let's celebrate Black History 365.

Hold their feet to the fire. Make sure that they do just that. Find your voice as the consumer, as a primary and priority consumer in America and demand what you deserve. And that's agnostic of industry, honestly. And, Recy, I want to give you a shout-out, girl, because you look amazing. And being pregnant during this pandemic, you look amazing. I'm ready to pop.

I'm ready to pop. Yes. I'm popping tonight. You are popping tonight. So she the only one looking amazing? Look at that. Erica, Greg over there with the clean dashiki and the books. I'm seeing all the people. It feeling like ain't nobody else here.

I just had to give her a clap because I didn't even know she was pregnant. She's so poised and graceful and she looks so beautiful. But we do have to get back to a society. My children have to go back to school. They have to. Or I'm going to crack. They have to because I know that as black and brown children, they need opportunity and access

to every resource possible for them because this world wasn't designed for them to succeed. And think about it. My children come from a two-parent household where we can afford to get you a tutor and get you additional resources. But what about those children

who have to go to McDonald's just to use the internet? What about my other rural folks who struggle with internet access or even opportunities in education and their parents even being at home to help them with homework? Because they still have to work, putting themselves at danger for the disease, and they come in right back. So it's just so many social determinants that we have to consider. And education, I believe, is honestly foundational. And I was confused as to why teachers weren't even considered in phase 1A.

One of the things that President Biden is going to say tonight, he's going to call on states to open up COVID vaccine to everyone. So get rid of all these different categories. Doc, speak on that, because folks don't know. Well, what category am I in? Is it by age? Who is it impacting? But also, are we at the point now where it's actually now widely available? I had Tom Jonah on last night and he said, I don't understand why we're not giving COVID vaccine 24 hours a day. Right. Why aren't we? Because the system wasn't designed for us. In phase A, we had, we focused on healthcare workers and long-term facilities. We know that our people don't go to long-term facilities. 70% of long-term facilities are white people. Healthcare workers, predominantly

white people. And so now that we're in South Carolina, at least, we're in phase 1B, where we've opened that up, and now it feels more like the general population. But we still have to make sure that we are allocating resources equitably. If we know that Black and brown people are dying at higher rates from COVID, we need to hyper-focus on those areas and making sure that we're going to those minority communities, those rural communities, the uninsured folks, because that just makes the most sense. We can't give everyone the same thing because everyone doesn't need the same thing right now. I can't go into the hospital limping. I can't go into the hospital with a sore throat and you give me crutches. That makes absolutely no sense. And so I feel like that's what we've done with this vaccine. We gave America crutches when we saw that the sore throat was honestly our African-American and Latino and indigenous populations.

And we failed on that part. But I pray to God that with the release of Johnson and Johnson, we can see more opportunities for people in those priority populations to be vaccinated. The one dose really helps with our more transient folks, especially like our homeless people, are those that you may not be able to find again for a second dose. Well, it has certainly been a whole, whole lot that has been going on and we still have a long ways to go. We've lost more than 500,000 people. Black folks have been impacted in such a credible way. But we also are glad to see people who have stuck together, been far more resilient, have been helping one another. And I will say this here.

I think, again, once we reach the point where we truly can open up, I think there are a lot of people who are going to greatly value being able to get together and just to be able to say hey and hang out with somebody. So I think this country might get a little crazy. I think a lot of work may not. It's the weirdest thing. I think when this thing opens up, I think a lot of work may not happen because for a lot of people who put things off, yeah, it's going to be a whole lot of being outdoors, partying. It's going to be like in Miami. There's no such thing as really shutting down. That might be everybody else. And so it's going to be real interesting to see again how

folks respond. So, Doc, we certainly appreciate your leadership. Thank you so very much. The folks at Goodstock. Dr. Kimberly Butler-Willis, thanks a lot. Thank you guys so much for having me. And congrats to all of you. Thanks for your leadership as well. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Folks, when we come back, we'll talk with John Boyd, who heads the National Black Farmers Association, on the billions in the COVID bill for black farmers. It's about time. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Senators, this cannot be our future. Do not concede, Mr. President. Fight hard. This cannot be the future of America. American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Where the fuck are they? Everybody stay down. People died that day. What message will we send the rest of the world? What happened today in Washington, D.C. is not America. America has stood for some very important things. I think what we're seeing in the United States is terribly distressing.

Incited by the current president. President Trump. The world is watching and wondering whether we are who we say we are. You are patriots, just like the patriots gathered at Bunker Hill. The election in many ways was stolen. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. At one point, people started chanting, kill him with his own gun. They thought they were going to die.

Watching someone use an American flagpole to spear and pummel one of our police officers ruthlessly, mercilessly. We didn't need more witnesses. We needed more senators with spines. Yeah! President Trump declared his conduct totally appropriate. So, he gets back into office and it happens again. We'll have no one to blame but ourselves. Hello, everyone.

I'm Godfrey, and you're watching... Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. Well, today, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill. He was going to do so tomorrow, but chose to move it up one day. He's also going to have a primetime address tonight that we'll carry live right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. This is him signing the relief bill.

In the weeks that this bill has been discussed and debated, it's clear that an overwhelming percentage of the American people, Democrats, independents, or Republican friends, have made it clear, the people out there, made it clear they strongly support the American Rescue Plan. Yesterday, with the final passage of the plan in the House of Representatives, their voices were heard and reflected in everything we have in this bill. And I believe this is, and most people I think do as well, this historic legislation is about

rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation, working people, middle class folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance. That's what the essence of it is. And I'm going to have a lot more to say about that tonight and the next couple of days and be able to take your questions.

But in the meantime, what I'm going to do is sign this bill and make a presentation tonight. And then there's going to be plenty of opportunities. We're going to be on the road, not only talking about what I'm talking about tonight is the impact on the virus and how we're going to end this pandemic. And we're going to talk all the elements of the bill beginning Friday, Saturday through the week. So thank you for being here. Got it. Thank you all. Appreciate it.

The relief bill includes $5 billion for the country's farmers who were struggling before the coronavirus pandemic as a result of Donald Trump's trade war. Half of that will go specifically to black farmers. Joining us right now is John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association. John, glad to have you back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you, Roland, for having me. And thank you for being a leader for our community and just getting the word out about this for us. We really appreciate it. I appreciate it. How were y'all able to be successful to get this allocation, half of that going specifically to black farmers? Well, as you know from having your television show in the past, I talked about debt relief with you many years ago. So we've been trying to get debt relief in Congress for many, many years through the farm bill, through all

kinds of measures that are rolling in, and we just couldn't get it done. And this was really a piece of Cory Booker's bigger bill, and we were able to get it in the COVID relief packets. And we thought we could move this piece. It wouldn't get that much attention. But I was wrong. You know, 10 senators put amendments out there all night long to lessen or remove the black farmers language out of the spending bill. I mean, so here they had nearly two trillion dollars of relief money going out to to the American people. And they want to pick on, you know, black farmers, people who can't defend themselves and, you know, ridicule us in such a manner on the House floor. It's really disgusting.

The, a lot of, obviously, you have folks who are saying, oh, this is pork, this is pork. But, okay, y'all were also impacted by COVID. And again, you know, all these people can talk about how great and wonderful Donald Trump was and all these white farmers who support him, but the reality is the trade war that he instituted, which for some reason people say, oh, was successful, that caused a lot of farmers to go into bankruptcy.

Well, I'll tell you something, too, Roland. Trump took $29 billion just in relief from the China trade war. Black farmers were virtually absent, and farmers of color, virtually absent from those monies. And there's always a reason why we can't get them. We wouldn't need a bill like this if USDA would treat black farmers with dignity and respect and treat us the way that they treat white farmers in this country. We wouldn't need a special allocation. But they refuse to change. And although we've had some successes in the past, the culture, the discriminating culture at USDA remains the same. As long as it remains the same, we're going to always have

problems, you know. And if you look at Senator Lindsey Graham's comments, Roland, where he said he thought it was reparations. And at the beginning of his statement, he said, oh, this measure really bothers me, is what he said. And at the end of his statement, he said, you know, we really need to check these people. Well, he wasn't checking Black farmers when the many times I've been by his office to ask him to look at the problems at USDA, how they were discriminated against Black farmers. He wasn't checking Black farmers when they were tearing our applications up and refusing to lend us money and refusing even to take our applications. And he wasn't checking black farmers when we lost millions and millions of acres of land at USDA.

He had 6,000—I checked out membership—he had over 6,000 black farmers in his state. So instead of ridiculing us and taking pop shots at us, why don't he do something to help his own constituents in the state, which are black farmers? One of the things that, again, people don't quite understand, there's so much focus, obviously, on what's happening in the cities, but the reality is there are a lot of African-Americans who live in rural America. The problem is when you say rural America in this country, that becomes code for white. That's correct. And, you know, I tell people all the time, if you want to see what the

real America looks like, drive 20 minutes out of a major city, out of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and you'll see right now today there are no Biden signs out, but nailed up on these bonds are Trump signs. And somebody needs to tell the people that demand laws. There's two Americas out here. You have the people that are supporting Donald Trump and still believe that he should be president, and then you have the other half of America, you know, where we're moving on without him. And I've never seen in my lifetime where rural America people are so divided.

I have white farmers since Biden has been elected that have stopped talking to me. This country is totally divided, and it's divided by means of race and, you know, what's going on in the White House right now. So let's talk about USDA. Bill Sack will be the secretary of that. Y'all have been pressing them as well. And so what are your hopes for him running the department again? We are also going to make it perfectly clear that he needs to come speak to us directly because he needs to have a relationship with black media, black-owned media. Secretary Vilsack definitely should come and address black media. Well, we didn't support him, and we had trouble with President Biden

calling him back to USDA. We actually wanted the other young lady that went over to HUD to be Secretary Marsha Fudge. And during the Obama years, as you know, he was slow to act and support the Black Farmers Bill, the Claims Remedy Act of 2010. He wasn't on the Hill supporting me, as you know. And Valerie Jarrett came on at the last six months of that bill and gave us a push and helped us over the finish line. And in my last conversation with him, Roland, I told him that he has to do better.

The old Vilsack that was there during the Obama years, this is a new time. We have an agriculture chairman in the House, Scott, and we have two Black members in the Agriculture Senate Committee, Booker and Warnock. This isn't the same, you know, political ramifications where he was eight years ago. And he said he would do better. But as my daddy taught me, don't watch what they say, but watch absolutely everything that they do. So we're going to be watching him and make sure that he does what he's supposed to do. And what I'm a little nervous about, Roland, is we have this $5 billion allocation, but it still has to be rolled out under the direction of the

secretary, which is Secretary Tom Vilsack. So we're going to need help from people like you to help us, you know, hold them accountable. Well, you can bank on that happening, John Boyd. Man, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Keep fighting, and we'll keep... Anytime you want to chat, just give us a call. We'll make it happen. Thank you, man. We love you, and I love this show.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Let's go to my panel here. Dr. Greg Carr, I want to start with you. What he said there is critically important, because, look, I keep saying all the time to people, you can't show me nothing that black people have gotten in this country that we ain't had to fight for.

And so bottom line, ain't nothing changed. Whether you're the black president, you got a black governor, black mayor, it don't matter. That has to be our fighting. That has to be our posture. It's a fighting posture. That's right, Roland. This is the second biggest

expenditure of public funds in the United States' history. And the Biden administration, I know we're going to talk about this generally, has to go out here and sell it. They're comparing Biden to FDR, but it's too early. See, FDR knew what an enemy was and how to oppose one. I love Kevin McCarthy. Shout out to Congressman McCarthy. Congressman McCarthy on the floor of the Congress the other night said that, you know, Biden has abandoned all pretenses of unity. No, he hasn't. We just heard him in the clip you say you had there.

Thank the Republicans who stood together as a white nationalist party and voted against all of this. Joe Biden is delusional, and politicians aren't your friend. The only thing Tom Vilcek has to do is stay white and die. So understand what John Boyd just said. $5 billion is not set aside for black farmers. $5 billion is set aside for disadvantaged farmers, 25% of which look apparently, according to some estimates, will be black. So how this money is spent is going to determine how much of that $5 billion gets into the hands of black farmers. Why is that important?

Politicians not your friend. Why is that important? We're not divided. There was never a we. Why is that important for us to maintain our focus? We have open enemies, the whole white nationalist party. Shout out to Lindsey Graham. I love you, little Lindsey, the mascot of the White Nationalist Party, because you're

an open racial. When we have made progress in this society, we've treated this country like what it is, a morality play. You, sir, have nothing in common with me. You are evil, and you must be opposed. Joe Manchin, Sinema, you too will be crushed. Why? Because you either are with humanity or you're with these evil white nationalists.

There is, this is not, this is a morality play at this point. So I guess what I'm saying is that now that this bill has been signed, we as people of African descent have to engage in a multi-strata war. That means we got to fight with the laws. We're going to fight the voter suppression. We're going to fight all that in the courts. And at the same time, we're going to get every ID that we can't get the laws overturned. And we're going to treat these people the way they need to be treated. Biden, stop talking about unity or keep talking about unity. We don't care because

you'll line up and we'll run over you too. This thing right here is life or death now, bro. So smile and work class, Joe. Every last one of them lined or death now, bruh. So smile and work your class, Joe. Every last one of them lined up and declared you an enemy. And until you declare them an enemy, you playing games. And you're not going to play games with our lives. Bottom line here, Reesey, and that is this here.

Look, zero Republicans voted for the bill. Now you got folks like Senator Wicker running out here trying to take credit for the billions and Now you got folks like Senator Wicker running out here trying to take credit for the billions in there for the restaurant industry saying him and CNN proposed bill. Yeah, but you voted against it. And his response was, well, just because there are a few things in it that I like, don't mean I still got to support the whole deal. No, no, no. See, Phil Graham used to do that crap. He was Senator of Texas. They

called it Graham standing, where he would vote against something, then send out press releases touting it by saying, we're still going to help my constituents, and that's what they do. So this whole idea, every time I hear Manchin talk about, and I hear, you know, Senator Susan Collins chirping how, you know, her relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer,

how awful it is, my deal is like Biden cannot, look, President Biden, Vice President Harris, they can call all they want to. I don't believe there's a single bill they're going to get 10 Republican votes. I don't. Maybe, maybe this so-called infrastructure bill,

but I remember the Republicans fought Obama on an infrastructure bill. Yeah. Today, this is political war. And so I do agree with Dr. Carr that, you know, I think Biden has a pathological need to feel like there is some sort of unity or potential unity. But the reality is there hasn't been that. And that hasn't been Biden's experience even during the Obama administration, the Obama-Biden administration. And so I think it would be more effective if he used his political capital to draw attention to

the fact that, hey, this was not a bipartisan vote bill, a vote in the Congress, even though it's bipartisan in the country in terms of overwhelming support. Even almost half of Republicans support this vast majority of independents, and so do Democrats. But for whatever reason, Joe Biden, President Biden does not want to point out that Republicans are obstructionists and that they need to be opposed and they need to be pressured. So that's going to be a sticking point for his administration. And I think that's going to, you know, make it an even bigger test for a leader, Chuck Schumer, to get people on board. And I feel like President Obama kind of did the same thing where he didn't

really want to call out the Republicans, you know, and he didn't really want to point them out to be the enemies that they were. But at the end of the day, this bill is very popular. Shout out to Senator Cory Booker, who really spearhead this aspect of it. And we're going to have to just really continue to fight the agencies and how they implement these different provisions. It's going to be incredibly important. Tom Vilsack, he has a lot to prove, but that's where we have to be engaged and not just on what the headlines are and not just on what the president and vice president are doing, but also on what the secretaries are doing, what their agencies are doing, what's happening in

these Senate committees, what's happening in these House committees. And so the more engaged we are in these things, the better it'll be. The last thing I'll say, too, is a lot of these things are temporary, which is what you do. You don't, you know, it's much harder to get a permanent provision in there because then that balloons the price of the bill. But we still have work to do. This is a great starting point in terms of it's very transformative. But we're going to have to keep the pressure on Democrats and Republicans to actually make these really transformative provisions permanent. Let's go right now to Senator Richmond.

Of course, he is with the Biden to, uh, Cedric Richmond. Of course, uh, he, uh, is with the Biden administration, former Congressman from new Orleans, uh, now over the office of public engagement, uh, Cedric, uh, to that particular point, look, you served in Congress. You know, how Republicans operate. You got zero votes on the house side. Uh, you got zero votes on the Senate side. Uh, the reality is, uh is they're not going to lift a finger. And so the question is, look, you're going to you're going to have outreach to him. But is the president prepared to let it make it clear the Democrats y'all might have to go your own way and do all of this heavy lifting yourselves without any help from the other side? We just did it. I am Roland, I think you're right.

And, look, we extended an olive branch. We invited them over to the White House. We entertained their ideas. We exchanged ideas with them. But the one thing we were not going to do was make people wait, either through obstruction or inertia, whichever it was, for real support to come.

And so there were those that, you know, Republicans said, well, if you break up the bill, we may be able to get there. We weren't going to break up relief. So what we did was we went to our Democrats and said that, you know, we hope for a Republican, but we're not going to wait on a Republican. We have the votes to do it. We want to do a big plan. It's probably the biggest in history. So we did it, and we did it with all Democratic votes, and we don't, you know, we're not running from that. Another thing we'll highlight is it was a bipartisan bill.

It was bipartisan everywhere except in the halls of the United States Capitol. And, you know, we won't apologize for that. And to the extent that we have to get things done, especially things that align with our values and our morals and and where we want to be, we're going to find a way to do it. And I think on that point right there, I think that's really what is a what is a critical one. The numbers are on your side in terms of 70 plus percent of the country being in support of it. And I've seen other stories and I sort of want to hear from your perspective on this.

And that is. Not making the same mistake President Barack Obama did. I can tell you, I remember in 2009 where he was like, hey, we passed it. And his belief with American people, they'll understand. And it was like, no, man, you can't. And they got killed. They got killed. President then Vice President Joe Biden was the one who was trying to who they sent out there trying to, you know, you know, oversee the stimulus deal. Selling something is just as important or even more important than actually getting it signed. So folks actually know. So what is going to be your strategy beyond President Biden traveling the country? But I'm talking about just constantly driving, letting people know exactly what's in it,

exactly who's being helped. Well, there are a couple of points on that. One, we have the philosophy that we are going to do what we said we were going to do. So we're going to tell people what we're going to do. We're going to go do it. And then we're going to tell them that we did it. And we're going to tell them how to take advantage of what we did, how it changes their life. Answer the Janet Jackson test of what have you done for me lately? And this bill is so big that you really have to take the time to make sure that everyone is comprehending and knowledgeable about all of the complexities of a $1.9 trillion bill. And so the thing that's different between this and the Obama legislation was this time when we're leaving, everybody's talking about how transformational it is, how big is it, how big it is,

and how it's going to change lives. When the plan was the stimulus was passed under President Obama, you had half of Democrats going out saying it was too small. So even though he won, people were still complaining, saying that he lost. And so I think that the president did a good job and the vice president of uniting Democrats around this and making sure that it was a bill that everybody could be

proud of and everybody could go tout the win. And so we're going to the president's going to go out. He's going to travel the country and explain the benefits of it. The vice president is going to do that. The cabinet members are going to do that. We're going to use members of Congress to do it. We're going to use everybody to explain to people what this bill means to them. Already, you got Senator Tom Cotton who was saying, oh, these checks are going to people in prisons. Didn't two bills get passed under Trump? You were in Congress and didn't folks who in prison get checks? We didn't change much on eligibility. So it is the exact same that whoever received it under Trump will receive it under us. And that's just what

Republicans do. They figure out something in the bill that can point to poor people, black people or incarcerated people or Hispanics or immigrants and just try to divide the country. And so I think the country is actually getting tired of it. And if this bill is 74 percent popular now, then the question is, what will it be at the end of the month? What will it be tonight after the president explains what we did, why we did it and what people should look forward to? I think it's going to go up. And so at some point you just have to isolate and expose people for what it is and what they're doing. And so, you know, you just mentioned it. Don't go out and tout the parts of the bill like you really did something for the American people. You were trying to stand in the way of $1,400 checks for expanded child tax credit, enhanced earned income tax credit,

nutrition for hungry people with one in five black families going hungry right now. That's what they were doing. They knew what they were doing. And you just have to call it for what it is. I'm just proud that all the Democrats stuck together and said, we're going to do what's right. And it's popular. So it's not I don't even think it was that hard of a vote. But sticking together as Democrats in such a unified way was remarkable. The John Lewis voting bill, that is going to be a crucial one. We have been covering what's happening in Georgia with massive voter suppression. And the reality is this here, some actually 240 plus bills across the country Republicans are putting in place. Florida, a committee there, they just voted to completely get rid of all ballot drop boxes, not even try to do one per county. And so Republicans are trying to change

laws left and right. Is that the next major priority of President Biden? And look, the reality is the filibuster is going to have to be, they got to get rid of that to get that through. That has to get done or Democrats could very well be facing massive defeat in 2022 at the ballot box. The Republicans doing right now. Look, I don't think it's the next party we're going to deal with. You have to remember the day he signed all the racial equity executive orders. He talked about the need to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. So he's been talking about it for a while it's something that's important to him he wants to see congress pass it he wants to sign it and he's willing to engage in it and so we're

going to get prepared to have that fight you're talking about a president who has chaired judiciary renewed the voting rights act twice with almost unanimous support one time so we're going to give people an opportunity like we did on this bill we're going to give people an opportunity like we did on this bill. We're going to give people an opportunity to get to 60 votes to see if we can do it in a bipartisan way. But this is something that is important to America. It's important to the president. And we see what's happening across the country. And so we're not going to turn a blind eye to it. We're going to work on it. To say we're going to get rid of the filibuster today, we're not going to turn a blind eye to it. We're going to work on it. But to say we're going to get rid of the filibuster today, we're not going to say that. But the reality is this. If you have a hugely popular COVID relief bill and you got no Republican votes, I see absolutely zero path

to 60 votes on a John Lewis voting bill. Well, many people didn't see a path at all to spending $1.9 trillion. If I had a pity for everybody who said it was too big, we couldn't get it done. You know, so look, Roland, nothing beats a failure but a try, and we're going to try. And so we're committed to getting that bill passed, and we'll see how we get it done. And getting that bill passed by any means necessary. Well, I didn't say that, but, you know, you read through the lines and you're good at what you do, but, you know, we're going to get the bill passed.

That is our goal and we have every intention of succeeding on it because we know what it means. We know what the fight to get the right to vote is, a meaningful right to vote, not just on paper, but to break down the barriers and the systemic racism and all of those things involved with voting. And the president double-downed on it on Bloody Sunday. The vice president is engaged with it. So it's something that the entire White House is paying attention to. All right.

Senator Richmond, we certainly appreciate it. We look forward to hearing President Biden's comments tonight with his address to the nation. Thank you, Roland. Thanks a lot. Let's go back to my panel. Eric, I want to go to you. You're, of course, there in Georgia. This is huge. This is a critical, critical voting bill. And trillion COVID bill, you ain't getting no Republican votes on changing the voting law. Zero. Okay. I think we were all kind of collectively shaking our heads like this is not going to happen, particularly when you think about the real fight that it took to make sure that Georgians did,

in fact, elect two senators to go into the wells of the Senate there. You know, we're you know, as we kind of continue to kind of like matriculate through this program and just thinking about, you know, what the conversations that we've been having on this program, I think what something that Dr. Carr said just a few segments ago, he talked about, you know, this is life or death. And so when we start thinking about 2022, those elections, those Senate elections that will take place, and then we start thinking about 2024, we already know that the son of a Klansman has said, listen, don't send your money to RINOs, even though he was a Democrat for much of his political life, so to speak. Give to my PAC.

So his grifting has gone to another level. And they will give. They will support. That is what Republicans do. They get in line. They are subject to authoritarianism. As we look and we see movements like that, we already understand that this same House committee on election integrity, that as everyone sees down at the lower third that Roland has, who you need to call in order to make sure your voice is heard over SB 241, a House bill, 531 in Georgia,

these Jim Crow, anti-democratic, anti-voting bills that have continued to move forward over onto crossover day. Excuse me. If we do not get our shit together this year, 2022 and 2024 are going back Republican, period. Right. That is exactly what's going to happen. We do not have time to lose any of the gains that we have made. And you want to know why? Because there is a blood debt. That blood debt is not just the 500000 people who died, who did not make it to see this day, who died in transit to this day. But that blood debt goes back many, many years and generations. As you had Mr. Boyd come on and he's talking about the plight of Black farmers. I can't help but think about over in just less than 100 years, 90% of black farmers have lost their land. You know what that's called?

That's called theft, everybody. That is land theft, 90%. And when you think about black farmers only have a fourth of the acres that white farmers have, 100 to 440 acres. This country specializes in theft, period. So understand the same way that Steve Bannon said on February of 2017, right in the DMV at National Harbor, that the primary goal of their regime was five words, to deconstruct the administrative state. They have effectively done that. So how are we going to engage?

Recy is talking about engaging, engaging, engaging. How in the hell are we going to engage? You have to push people that have an ear to power, that are in seats in power, and tell them, no, the damn filibuster needs to be removed because too many people have lost their lives to cross rivers that they just aren't going to cross. So this is, again, life and death. And we have to push people, push them past their comfort zone.

Push, push, push. This is the hour and the time to push because it's going to be too late in January 2022. It's actually too late later this year if we don't get it together. Look, that's just the real deal here. And again, I got no problem. Look, I get you don't want to say anything about the filibuster, but the end of the day is this here. You ain't got 10, Greg. You ain't got 10. You don't have 10. So if you could not get 10

on a COVID bill that 60% of Republicans liked, 70 plus percent of Americans liked, you better go ahead and have a real conversation with your Democratic caucus to say,

we don't get this bill passed, they're going to drive through gerrymandering, partisan gerrymandering. What they're doing is in Pennsylvania, trying to get rid of the statewide election of the Supreme Court to go to district elections, saying, oh, no ballot drop boxes, making it legal to hand out water and food. Oh, no, no, no. They trying to run the table for the next 10, 20 years. And knowing full well, they got a 6-3 Supreme Court that's bought the gut

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Man, look, Biden administration, Biden-Harris administration, y'all been a hard commit to getting this John Lewis bill because here's the other piece. If you don't, how you going to go and make an argument to folks in black folks in Milwaukee? Forget Ron Johnson. Black folks in North Carolina. Richard Richard Burr. Black folks in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. To me, see, you're going to try to make an argument in Florida with Rubio's seat. I'm saying you have a real big problem. You're right, Roland. And, you know, Erica just taught a master class. This is what this is where we are right now. You know, we and we've been here before.

Right after the Civil War, during Reconstruction, you go from 1866 to 1871, as you always remind us. That's when that civil rights legislation was passed through. There's still good law. It takes another hundred years to recoup from the white lash. Remember what George White said in 1901, the last black member of the federal legislature. He said, like a phoenix, we'll be back, which is why the Congressional Black Caucus adopted them as their motto when they came into existence in the late 60s. You come 1964 to 68, that was the window. You know, I embrace these white nationalists, and I keep saying that because, you see, the cost of their racism will be their little country.

We're going to be fine. This is what they don't understand about this. There is no such thing as American exceptionalism. By taking the stance they've taken, they have clarified and sharpened our ability to see exactly what this criminal enterprise is. So of course our brother Cedric Richmond couldn't say that we're going to do this because he's with the administration. But let's be clear.

I think it's probably more likely than not that the filibuster will be blown up at least by perhaps August, as late as August. That's what the New York Times, they had an op-ed today talking about that. And I think that's probably true because the Democratic Party is trying to win elections with a coalition that's fragile. And it's not going to be about convincing Black people to give us another chance. The only way they're going to be able to push anything through is to create this as a morality play. Joe Manchin, Kristen Sinema, dancing with her little skirt on and bagel putting her thumb down to $15. They must be primaried now and exposed, not because of them, but because

of every race. In other words, you are either with the plan or you are not. And so there's nothing to lose. And so the five white people who will come to their senses, including those who said, I like this bill, they will then make a

different choice with Joe Manchin when he's primaried or Sinema when she's primaried, or they won't. But we have nothing to lose. We have to be mature now and grow up. Leave United States exceptionalism in the dust, look in the past and get the momentum of your memory. What have we done every time?

They tried to throw us out with the poll tax. They tried to throw us out with the poll tax. They tried to throw us out with the white primary. And what did we do? You said, mother, may I? Okay, motherfucker, may I? I got every kind of ID. I done showed up. You still don't want me to be here? No problem. The deacons for defense, they pumped shotguns. The nation of

Islam bought farmland in the southern states. Y'all understand something. These your damn enemies. That little flak and that little punk ass, and we better than this? No, Kevin McCarthy. Black people saved Steve Scalise's life and saved all y'all punk ass life, and they didn't do it because they love you.

They did it because of their job. You people are enemies of humanity. End them. End them politically. I don't give a damn because you have nothing to lose, and we're going to be fine. You know what's it going to cost y'all? It's going to cost y'all your little settler-ass project called the United States of America. And I, for one, will not shed one tear.

Recy, I said before, this means war. I'm telling you, on this voting issue, this is war. And see, for the people who go, oh, man, OK, y'all, y'all focus, you know, on that vote and stuff. Do understand that when they make these changes to voting laws, that doesn't just impact presidential races. It doesn't impact U.S. Senate races. It doesn't just impact congressional races. It impacts any election that takes place in that state. That is what they are trying to do. And they see black people are moving south. They're moving back home. And they want to further disenfranchise black people who are moving back to Georgia and North Carolina and South Carolina and Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama and Arkansas. You see what they're doing in Florida

where they are aligning with these middle class, upper class white folks who are moving from Ohio and Wisconsin and New York state and Pennsylvania and bringing their power, bringing their ideology with them to the Northern pan to the Northern part of Florida. Then you combine that with Venezuelans and Cubans. So when they attacking Democrats as being socialist, uh, all that's being combined, they are all about, Oh, if we could sit here and watch the changing demographics, if we can lock this sucker up for another 10 to 20 years, we're guaranteeing we remaining in power. That's what this is about. It is not just a couple of elections. Absolutely. And I, for one, am sick of the party,

the Democratic Party, expecting this Herculean effort from Black voters to carry the weight of the entire goddamn country. And this is just a very basic thing to get done. And there's no dilly-dallying around it. There's no playing, you know, footsies with the Republicans. You're not going to get even. We might not even have 48 votes. That's the thing. You're talking about getting to 60. Are we even at 48? Are we even at 50? I don't know so much because Joe Manchin, he signs with white supremacists

all the time. This is the thing. If you got the political capital, this is the thing to spend it on because this has to pass. Because even if we gave it our best effort, even if every single last one of us

like Dr. Carr said, motherfucker may I? I love that, Dr. Carr. Even if we showed up, it's still not enough because they are rigging the game. And each time we overcome it, they rig it even more. They make it that much more impossible.

Not that we won't overcome it, but for that the system itself cannot be broken in the way that it solidifies their white supremacist power. And so at some point you have to stop playing nice. You have to stop being diplomatic about it and call it out for what it is. And that is white supremacist rule that wants to make black and brown people second class citizens that wants to disenfranchise us at every single government. That's what is at stake here, period. That's right. Well, it is going to be very interesting again to see how hard the Biden-Hass administration goes on the voting bill. But let me say it again. On March 11th, 2021, at 727 p.m. Eastern. Democrats, if you do not pass this bill, you are guaranteeing your defeat in the 2022 midterm elections.

You are guaranteeing you will not control the House or the Senate. Right. After the 2022 election. And you are imperiling your chance to hold on to the White House in 2024. The Republican Party ain't playing nice. No. They never did.

We know about the big lies. They are passing these laws. It is built on massive lies. That's what it's on. So y'all can see them play cute. Y'all can play footsie. Cinema, you won in Arizona because a whole lot of Latinos voted. They invalidated Section 2.

A case out of Arizona? Yeah. Tell me how that's going to go. Don't play games here. Because guess what? We ain't going to sit here and save you because this on you. We already saved your ass with Georgia.

Gave you the power. Now you got to use it. You're going to cash your check because of it. But Ron, let me ask you, what do you think happens if the Democrats continue to be timid, at least the Biden Democrat type,

what do you think happens if and when the white nationalist party takes control of both sides of the legislature? They've stacked the courts and reclaimed the presidency. What do you think happens next in America? Oh, you think the folks in Detroit just lay down? We just say, OK, well, let's just go. I mean, let's be, let's be real clear. We saw the last four years, what happens when they control the white house, when they control the Senate, and then when they control the house for the first couple of years, we, we, we know exactly how that goes. And I think what we have to understand is because with the census redistricting and then with gerrymandering, they're going to further solidify. When the Supreme Court said, oh, we can't get involved in political gerrymandering, that's not our responsibility. What that did was that completely gave Republicans leeway in mainly southern states to keep doing what they're doing. I was reading a story the other day where

Where in Florida Florida right now. They pretty much have a balanced somewhat of a bat look it's not really balanced but Democrats could potentially lose three to four congressional seats in Florida alone. Sure.

That's their majority in the House. Sure. If the Republicans in Florida succeed with gerrymandering, they're in Florida, that could cost the Democrats the House if they keep every other seat. So what's going to happen is

they're going to completely sit here and run this table. And then what they're going to do, as Malcolm Nance said, they're going to then lean on this white paramilitary militia. Because what took place on January 6th was a trial run.

It was a trial run when they talked about kidnapping the governor of Michigan. And see, here's the other deal that I really need to get people to understand. Trump was crazy. Trump was so crazy that even other Republicans and independents were like, yo, man, he too crazy. But let me take y'all back to 1998. White suburban women concluded that Newt Gingrich was too mean spirited. Yeah, he was too mean spirited. He did not lose. Republicans removed him as Speaker of the House. House. President Bush ran in 2000.

President Bush ran as a compassionate conservative. Whites and women are like, you'll be cool with that. So understand, Trump is crazy. But if you take the mindset of a Trump and Put that in a Nikki Haley body. Put that in a Hawley body. What's going to happen is those white Republicans who said, man, I can't deal with crazy because he just tweet crazy stuff. They're going to say, oh, she's acceptable. He's acceptable.

Sure. See, they would have loved Mike Pence being president. Man, he still thinks he can run. So, folk need to understand this thing is very tenuous. So, Biden and Harris, they ain't got much

wiggle room when you look at how few votes they won the presidency. Forget the electoral college. Forget the 306. I'm talking about look at them hard numbers. How many votes did they win by in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona? Sure. 70, 80,000, maybe 90,000.

Very similar to how Trump won in 2016. Sure. Which means that you got to keep all your folks on your side. And if they are successful on the voting piece, their whole intention, if you can just shave off 50,000 in Georgia, that's the election. You shave off 50,000 in Arizona, that's the election. Shave off 50,000, 100,000 in Pennsylvania, Michigan, that's the election.

That's the whole strategy. Folk just better understand what they're trying to do. It's white fear. And it's to hold as much of that white power as long as they can. And I was reading a story the other day when we have a conversation and we got to have a real conversation with Latinos. Who y'all rolling with? Are y'all white Hispanics? Yes. The answer is yes.

See? Because now that's also depending on what part of the country we're talking about. That's right. See? A person who's Hispanic slash Latino in Florida is a little different than the one in Texas, different

than the one in Arizona, different than the one in California, different than the one in New York, the one in Texas, different than the one in Arizona, different than the one in California, different than the one in New York, the one in Illinois. So folks got to understand that you can't say black, you can't say Latino, because now this whole thing, this whole dynamic has changed.

That's right. And folk just better understand that so while everybody keep talking about what black folks going to do, what y'all white folks going to do, what y'all white folks going to do? What y'all white liberals going to do? That's what I want to ask you. I know we got company, but you just gamed out what's going to happen.

My question is, if and when that happens, what do they or anyone else think we're going to do? I mean, this isn't like a game of tag where we get tagged and just sit quietly. I guess y'all got us. History tells us what comes next. In other words, if they if they get everything, control of everything, if they do exactly do it the exact way, what do you think is going to happen in California or Houston, Texas? What's going to happen in New York State? What's going to happen in California or Houston, Texas? What's going to happen in, forget New York State, what's going to happen in Atlanta? In other words, I think people have a basic lack of awareness

of what a country is. And there's never been a country like the United States. This is a settler state with so many different types of people in it. I think, and that's why I ask you, Roland, what you think, how you think, what do you think the response would be for something like this? Because if they gain and maintain control of all levels of federal government, and through doing that, empower those states where they've

got white nationalists in charge, and they stack the courts, do you think, do you think, Roland, anybody, I'm just thinking about it, because this is the conversation that we get to, but we never have, because it's never voiced. The silence usually says, well, if they do it, we'll just fight harder. But there's no American exceptionalism. My question is, do you think there will be a country?

Do you think people will just take it? I think that, yes, I think there will be a country. I think that there will be there will be massive resistance to to to what what what they're doing. But this is also why this is also why it's important that we on this show. As I keep saying, connect the dots and shut down a whole bunch of these fake ass black YouTube historians. Right. Because because, again, when when somebody had a guy who sent me a tweet today, he was like he goes yesterday goes, well, you know, are you happy with your Biden vote? I said, fool, who's on the flip side? Come on. See, ain't no perfect candidate, but I can damn sure make a calculus. If you told me, um, ride in the car with one of my twin nieces or ride in the car

with a drunk driver, I ain't trying to ride with neither one of them. I ain't trying to ride with neither one of them. But if I got to make a call, it ain't going to be the drunk driver. No question. I got to make a call. And so't going to be the drunk driver. I got to make a call. And so, for the people out

there who have promoted all this nonsense of don't vote and then when somebody says, well, only look at down ballot, well, then you act like what happens up there don't impact what happens down there.

See, you can tell somebody, well, ignore the top, vote for the DA. But the people at the top also make law. They also set policy. My deal is I can't afford to ignore anybody at the top, the middle, or the bottom. Exactly. And so what has happened is, why we've walked people through this whole thing on judges. People hit me, man, why you always talking about judges?

I'm like, perfect example. The story that we're going to deal with next after the break, the judge reinstates a third-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin. That was a judicial decision. That's right. Supreme Court's looking at Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That's a judicial decision. That's right. Supreme Court's looking at Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That's a judicial decision. The Republican plan, I need everybody to understand this,

is, oh, y'all think y'all Negroes and y'all Latino folks, y'all going to let people into the office. Okay, don't worry about it. Because every law y'all pass, we are going to challenge. That's right. So now, we're going to challenge the law. We're going to take it to the courts, Recy. And then when the courts invalidate the declares unconstitutional,

then that's no law. The only reason Roe v. Wade is still in existence. Republicans right now are literally passing laws. Arkansas just signed a law, a near ban on all abortions in Arkansas,

even if you get raped. They sure did. In their law, the person who raped you could still have visitation rights. Y'all, the only reason the ace of hustlers just signed the law, it's going to immediately be put on hold because they're going to take the ACLU

or Planned Parenthood and sue, and a federal judge is going to say, can't enact it, and they hope it goes to the supreme court that's right y'all that's law so republicans they hoping supreme court takes it because they're saying we got a 6-3 majority this might be the one to overturn roe v wade all i'm simply saying is judges all of these things connect that's why we do this show so we can tell you stop listening to these fools who tell you voting doesn't matter because whoever is in elected office is going to have a direct impact on every single public policy you can think of and what I was trying to tell a young brother from Albany who was on the other day, bruh, you can go create your own school, support it.

You can be building up our people to be about self. But if you somehow think you can live in America free of government, you are sadly mistaken. Reese, go ahead. That's right. And the thing I want people to understand is, and this is particularly going back to the filibuster discussion, is that Republicans have no allegiance to precedent. They have no allegiance to the rules.

Any kind of illusion or delusion about the fact that, well, if we keep these rules in place, then when we're out of power, then we have some leverage over Republicans. It's delusional. The bottom line is our politics are not based on merit. Our politics actually aren't really even based on what have you done for me lately. What they're based on is how you survive in a game that is rigged and how you overcome it. And you have to be remarkably, remarkably resilient and determined to make the difference

so that we still have a country, as Dr. Carlson said. But what Democrats have to understand is you can't think that when you're out of power that you're gonna have any power. We saw that under the Trump administration where Democrats weren't able to stop a damn thing. That's why we have 6-3 Supreme Court right now, because as soon as Mitch McConnell got, you know, and Trump got in, they changed the rules, the filibuster rules. So it's about time that Democrats realize that I'm not saying you rigged the game, but I'm saying that you got to play the damn game and you got to play and win and you got to play

it when you have the power and you can't worry about when you don't have the power because you're going to make yourself not have the damn power. And the Republicans are going to do whatever it takes every single time to hold on to that power. It was a miracle that they lost the way that they did this time. They're not taking any chances. 200-something voter suppression bills. And even though you have Democrats on Twitter talking about that, you know, this is happening, there needs to be a forceful response to this. There needs to be a forceful repudiation of the republican party itself and democrats you have to use the power now or you lose it and you don't get it back for

a decade simple as that going to a break we come back we'll talk derek chauvin uh of course facing uh charges the death of george floyd that's next in rolla mark unfiltered i believe that it's movement time again. In America today, the economy is not working for working people. The poor and the needy are being abused. You are the victims of power, and this is the abuse of economic power. I'm 23 years old. I work three jobs. Seven days a week, no days off.

They're paying people pennies on the dollar compared to what they profit. And it is time for this to end. Essential workers have been showing up to work, feeding us, caring for us, delivering goods to us throughout this entire pandemic. And they've been doing it on a measly $7.25 minimum wage. The highest check I ever got was literally $291. I can't take it no more. You know, the fight for 15 is a lot more than about $15 an hour.

This is about a fight for your dignity. We have got to recognize that working people deserve livable wages. And it's long past time for this nation to go to 15 so that moms and dads don't have to choose between asthma inhalers and rent. I'm halfway homeless. The main reason that people end up in their cars is because income does not match housing costs. If I could just only work one job, I could have more time with them. It is time for the owners of Walmart, McDonald's, Dollar General, and other large corporations to get off welfare and pay their workers a living wage. And if you really want to tackle racial equity, you have to raise the minimum wage.

We're not just fighting for our families, we're fighting for yours too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it until we get it. I'm not going to give up. We just need all workers to stand up as one nation and just fight together. Families are relying on these salaries and they must be paid at a minimum $15 an hour. $15 a minimum anyone should be making this a be able to stay out of poverty. I can't take it no more. I'm doing this for not only me, but for everybody. We need 15 right now. I had a meeting with officials in the police union. Before I took office, and they sat down and told me,

now that you're going to be elected, what are you going to do for us? Else we're not going to do our job. Because remember, see, everybody focuses on the governor's case. I had Jason Stockley. That was the first situation I had. And basically told me, what are you going to do to assure us that you never hold a police accountable?

I said, that's not going to happen. So you get elected. Yes. And before you are sworn in, take office. They say they don't want to see any officers held accountable? Yes, and told me what I'm going to do

because they're going to ensure that I will never be elected again and they're going to ensure that I'm going to have a difficult time being the prosecutor of the city of St. Louis. That's a threat. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered.

As I said earlier, Judge Peter Cahill reinstated the third-degree murder charge against ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Judge Cahill acknowledged the ruling from the Supreme Court, which denied the defense's attempt to block the charge. The additional charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years and gives jurors another option to convict Chauvin of murder. Here's what the judge had to say. Murder in the third degree is reinstated as originally charged. In this case, this is not a decision as to the other three defendants who are set for trial on a later date. And we'll address that later. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison released a statement after the charge was reinstated saying the charge of third degree

murder in addition to manslaughter and felony murder reflects the gravity of the allegations against Mr. Chauvin. We look forward to presenting all three charges to the jury. Folks check this story out. You know what? Just go ahead and roll it. So, last night, someone sent me this video that circulated on social media, and I said, what the hell? They were a bit jumbled. Yeah. It's the best way I can put it. It like okay let me reason through that what you just said kind of thing yeah unfortunately and you know what i hate to say this i end up having this

you know angst every semester that a lot of my lower ones are blacksens almost every semester. And it's like, oh, come on. You know, get some really good ones, but they're also usually some that are just plain at the bottom. It drives me crazy. So I feel bad. Well, this morning, Georgetown announced that that particular adjunct professor

was being investigated. A few hours later, they announced that Professor Sandra Sellers had been fired after she was recorded disparaging black students on a Zoom call with another professor. Video of their conversation, again, was leaked on social media by a student. And, of course, the law school initially said there would be an investigation. But, yeah, it was not long seller said she told the georgetown dean that she was going to resign he was like nah you're gone georgetown georgetown law school dean bill uh trained or released an updated statement this afternoon and said quote as i wrote to you last night i'm appalled that key members of our faculty

engage in a conversation that included reprehensible statements concerning the evaluation of black students. I have further reviewed the incident and have now spoken to Professor Sellers and Professor Batson, giving each the opportunity to provide any additional context. I informed Professor Sellers that I was terminating her relationship with Georgetown Law Effective immediately. Now, keep the statement up there. This is what is crazy about this whole deal. He says, during our conversation, she told me that she had intended to resign. As a result of my decision, Professor Sellers is no longer affiliated with Georgetown Law. Professor Batson has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Affirmative Action, the results of which will inform our next steps.

Until the completion of the investigation, Professor Batson will have no further involvement with the course in which the incident arose. We are taking significant steps to ensure that all students in this class are fairly graded without the input of Professor Sellers or Professor Batson. This is by no means the end of our work to address the many structural issues of racism affected in this painful incident, including explicit and implicit bias, bystander responsibility, and the need for more comprehensive anti-bias training. This is a matter of great concern to me. I'll be writing

to you soon with a range of actions and changes that we will implement to address these issues. I will also send information about a listening session to the Georgetown Law student community that we plan to hold tomorrow. Greg Carr, the thing about this is, again, this is a comment taking place between two white professors. We know about it because it was on a Zoom call

and it got leaked. The reality is this here. These conversations happen every single day in law schools, engineering schools, in professional schools, in law firms, in corporate America. In fact, I want to pull this up. I saw this and it's really it's really tied to this to the same story that that is just very interesting in terms of just how folks roll. So a test was taken. A test was done. And in this test, what they did was they sent out this particular statement, if you will. And it came from a, it came from, it was two different statements that went out. It was, it was a, it was a law statement. And what was interesting about it is that they sent, they had sent out like 43 different law partners responded to it. Well, they said that it came from one of the state,

the statement came from a white student. He had the exact same name, but they said one was Caucasian, the other one was black. Guess which one had the most negative comments and the most spelling errors, it was literally the exact same letter. And folks say, like Mike Pence and others, oh, implicit bias, systemic racism, these things just don't exist.

Well, Roland, this is a very difficult and delicate topic. I think Professor Sellers was made a scapegoat. I think they made the wrong decision by terminating her and Professor Batson, removing him. Because when you see the thing people have to understand about law school and the practice of law and the study of law is that at the center of that intellectual work is language. I remember my first year in law school when I went to Ohio State after coming from an HBCU. And, you know, I remember being told by two and three L's, second year and third year law students, that the professors knew as they were grading, and grading in law school is typically anonymous, but they said they knew who the black students were. I had a contracts professor

who was a racist. And it was said nobody ever got above a C in his class. He's now dead. And I remember taking that as a personal affront, but I take it as an affront as a person who has lived his entire life deeply invested in language and reading and thinking about these things. And so when I say this is delicate and I say they make the wrong decision, and I'll wind this up, it's very important because this is the beginning of a conversation I think we have to have. Understand when a law professor is grading or listening, there are two things that kind of work. I'm just going to be very, very brief about this.

As somebody who has taught for many years, every semester I teach a class at Howard Law School, Race, Law, and Change, which I'm very grateful for because the Black students and the other students, not just Black students at Howard Law, but the students who come to Howard Law, like many of the ones who go to North Carolina Central and Texas Southern, Miles College in Alabama, the HBCU law schools, they come because they want to be relieved of that type of whiteness, white expectation. But there are two things that are happening while somebody's grading, particularly if it's anonymous grading based on sentence construction. Sometimes professors are triggered by the themes that students might emphasize. I remember moot

court competitions at Ohio State where they would say the Black students seem to always argue on the side of social justice, and they would downgrade another. The rubric is supposed to, you know, the rubric is all culturally determined, but they would say the choices you all make in terms of what you emphasize when you're studying a case, when you're trying to go through a statute and make an argument, they always seem to trend towards social justice. So that implicit bias is coming through integrating. The other thing is how students construct sentences, how students put together arguments, word choice. They think they know who it is based on how that happens. So we had a two day thing where the Black Law Students Association, that's why I was president of Boston, we basically held the whole faculty at Ohio State hostage over a weekend at Ohio State

to flesh out this challenge of whiteness as it manifests in assessing Black intellectual work. When I say this is delicate, this isn't about somebody saying, I don't like Black people. This is about how intellectual work is filtered through the lens of race. And you don't get rid of that by some anti- bias training and firing one or two people because every last member of that faculty, let me tell you, came through the system

baked into the way they think about intellectual work. And to make very clear, many of those classes, they don't know the names of the people they're grading. That's how deeply baked it is. So it ain't like she's saying, here's Tawanda Jones, I'm going to downgrade you. No, there are no names on the paper. You don't get upset by getting rid of her. You make her stay there, and then you put her in the middle

of the room, surround her with the rest of the faculty, and say, now explain to us why you said we have a problem in this conversation when you got some black students who are first generation, second generation, they're in a property law class. You're talking about restrictive covenants. You're walking through the language of Shelley versus Kramer and Hurd versus Hodge and all this. And the student who has never been introduced to that language is trying to not only grapple with this new concept, but grapple with the fact

that I didn't even learn about this until I got to this law school. Now, this is a delicate thing. Sam, I'm going to pull this up because actually, I'm going to pull this up because what you just laid out, this is a perfect example. It ties right to it and involves law. This email went out and says 53 partners from different law firms were asked to evaluate a young lawyer's legal memo. It was the exact same memo, except half identified the writer as black, half as white. The black writer's work was consistently seen as less competent. So watch this. The exact same memo average a 3.2 on a 5.5 point old rating under the hypothetical African American Thomas Meyer and a 4.1 under the hypothetical Caucasian Thomas Meyer. The qualitative comments on memos consistently were also more positive for the Caucasian Thomas Meyer than our African American Thomas Meyer.

Caucasian Thomas Meyerese, generally good writer but needs work on, has potential, good analytical skills. African American Thomas Meyereds lots of work. Can't believe he went to NYU. Average at best. Now, this is the one right here that jumps out. In regards to the specific errors in the memo, an average of 2.9, 7.0 spelling grammar errors were found in Caucasian Thomas Meyer's memo. African-American Thomas Meyer, 5.8.

It was the same memo, Recy. Right. And this is how we, the institutional racism really has deep impacts because a lot of times when it comes to internships, a lot of times when it comes to job opportunities, it's about your ranking in your classes. And so the top-ranked law students get their pick of the litter in terms of their opportunities, whereas if you're a lower-ranked student, then you're going to have to, you know, accept less money, which has generational consequences. And so there is an actual, you know, implication to this. That's not just, oh, white people are racist. Duh. Like it's actual, it's actually something that can be detrimental in terms of the earning potential and the trajectory of a person's career. And if it's rooted, well, not if it's, and with it being rooted in biases, again, as Dr. Carr laid out so expertly, it's baked in, in every single layer of the grading system and every

single layer of, of, of, of how, you know, Black students are perceived. Even if you don't even know that the person is Black, you get penalty, you get a Black penalty, even if you're white, because, you know, if you, if you sound like a Black person or if you're, a black penalty even if you're white. Because, you know, if you sound like a black person or if you're going for causes that seem like something that only a black person would care about, which is interesting, that it's only that they think only black people care about these

things, then there's a penalty for that. And so it's layers upon layers upon layers. It's not like Dr. Carr said, just a matter of a conversation needs to be having. You have to address the institutional aspects of it. And again, what the end result is a tangible result. It's a person who doesn't get the interview, a person who doesn't get the job, a person who gets offered less, a person who doesn't, you know, that has to go into a

different field perhaps. And so these are the things that even when you look at black law students, you look at black lawyers, you look at them as, you know, the upper echelon. They are the, you know, some people could say talented 10th or whatever the situation may be. But even they have to deal with these institutional racist barriers that harm their careers. Well, it cracked me up. When I saw that, I thought, Erica, when I was at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I remember there were two of us.

And it is so interesting. I'm not going to name this person. Y'all see this person on national television a lot. But we were working at the paper together. And I covered city hall, and this person covered county government. And it was interesting because I'm white, he's black, we're about the same age. And what was interesting is that, I mean, he made far more errors than I did. We had to run numerous corrections to his work. I ran, I think probably had three or four maybe in one year.

But it was very interesting when I watched my white bosses and I watched how they described him and described as a as a go getter. Oh, he makes the mistakes because he's too eager. I literally watch and I'm sitting here and I'm going, y'all just going to let that slide? Let that slide. But it was interesting. Then for me, it was when the editor came to me, you need to get your production up. Really? And what was the trip with that is she didn't realize Kate Northcott was my editor.

She didn't realize that I actually kept all of my stats. And I kept them how many days I worked per month and per week, went down the whole deal. I've got to hold that story right now, folks. President Joe Biden about the address to the nation. Let's go live to the White House. Good evening, my fellow Americans. Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about where we are. As we mark one year since everything stopped because of this pandemic. A year ago, we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked. Denials for days, weeks, then months that led to more deaths, more infections, more stress, and more loneliness.

Photos and videos from 2019 feel like they were taken in another era. The last vacation, the last birthday with friends, the last holiday with extended family. While it was different for everyone, we all lost something. A collective suffering, a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life and the loss of living for all of us. But in the loss, we saw how much there was to gain in appreciation, respect, and gratitude. Finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do. In fact, it may be the most American thing we do.

And that's what we've done. We've seen frontline and essential workers risking their lives, sometimes losing them, to save and help others. Researchers and scientists racing for a vaccine. And so many of you, as Hemingway wrote, being strong in all the broken places. I know it's been hard. I truly know. As I've told you before, I carry a card in my pocket with the number of Americans who have died from COVID to date. It's on the back of my schedule. Total deaths in America, 527,726. That's more deaths than in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and 9-11 combined. There were husbands, wives, sons and daughters, grandparents, friends, neighbors, young and old. They leave behind loved ones unable to truly grieve or to heal, even to have a funeral.

But I'm also thinking about everyone else who lost this past year to natural causes by cruel fate of accident or other disease. They too died alone. They too leave behind loved ones who are hurting badly. You know, you've often heard me say before, I talk about the longest walk any parent can make is up a short flight of stairs to his child's bedroom to say, I'm sorry, I lost my job. Can't be here anymore. Like my dad told me when he lost his job in Scranton.

So many of you have had to make that same walk this past year. You lost your job. You closed your business. Facing eviction, homelessness, hunger, a loss of control, maybe worst of all, a loss of hope. Watching a generation of children who may be set back up to a year or more because they've not been in school because of their loss of learning. It's the details of life that matter the most. And we miss those details. The big details on the small moments, weddings, birthdays, graduations, all the things that needed to happen, but didn't. The first date. The family reunions. The Sunday night rituals.

It's all has exacted a terrible cost on the psyche of so many of us. For we are fundamentally a people who want to be with others. To talk. To laugh. To hug. To hold one another. But this virus has kept us apart. Grandparents haven't seen their children or grandchildren.

Parents haven't seen their kids. Kids haven't seen their friends. The things we used to do that always filled us with joy have become things we couldn't do and broke our hearts. Too often, we've turned against one another. A mask, the easiest thing to do to save lives. Sometimes it divides us. States put it against one another instead of working with each other.

Vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who've been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated. At this very moment, so many of them are fellow Americans. They're on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives. And still, still, they're forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It's wrong, it's un-American, and it must stop. Look, we know what we need to do to beat this virus. Tell the truth. Follow the scientists and the science. Work together. Put trust and faith in our government to fulfill its most important function, which is protecting the American people. No function more important. We need to remember the government isn't some foreign force in a distant capital. No, it's us, all of us. We, the people.

For you and I, that America thrives when we give our hearts, when we turn our hands to common purpose. And right now, my friends, we're doing just that. And I have to say, as your president, I'm grateful to you. Last summer, I was in Philadelphia and I met a small business owner, a woman. I asked her, I said, what do you need most? Never forget what she said to me. She said, looking me in the eye, she said, I just want the truth, the truth. Just tell me the truth. Think of that. My fellow Americans, you're owed nothing less

than the truth. And for all of you asking when things will get back to normal, here is the truth. The only way to get our lives back, to get our economy back on track, is to beat the virus. You've been hearing me say that for while I was running and the last 50 days I've been president. But this is one of the most complex operations we've ever undertaken as a nation in a long time. That's why I'm using every power I have as president of the United States to put us on a war footing to get the job done. Sounds like hyperbole, but I mean it, a war footing. And thank God we're making some real progress now. In my first full day in office, I outlined for you a comprehensive strategy

to beat this pandemic. We've spent every day since attempting to carry it out. Two months ago, this country didn't have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or near all of the American public. But soon we will. We've been working with vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, to manufacture and purchase hundreds of millions of doses of these three safe, effective vaccines. And now, at the direction and with the assistance of my

administration, Johnson & Johnson is working together with a competitor, Merck, to speed up and increase the capacity to manufacture new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is one shot. In fact, just yesterday, I announced, and I met with the CEOs of both companies, I announced our plan to buy an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. These two companies, competitors, have come together for the good of the nation, and they should be applauded for it. It's truly a national effort, just like we saw during World War II. Now, because of all the work we've done, we'll have enough vaccine supply for all adults in America by the end of May.

That's months ahead of schedule. And we're mobilizing thousands of vaccinators to put the vaccine in one's arm, calling active duty military, FEMA, retired doctors and nurses, administrators, and those to administer the shots. And we've been creating more places to get the shots. We've made it possible for you to get a vaccine at nearly any one of 10,000 pharmacies across the country, just like you get your flu shot. We're also working with governors and mayors in red states and blue states to set up and support nearly 600

federally supported vaccination centers that administers hundreds of thousands of shots per day. You can drive up to a stadium or a large parking lot, get your shot, never leave your car, and drive home in less than an hour. We've been sending vaccines to hundreds of community health centers all across America located in underserved areas. And we've been deploying and we will deploy more mobile vehicles and pop-up clinics to meet you where you live so those who are least able to get the vaccine are able to get it. We continue to work on making at-home testing available. And we've been focused on serving people in the hardest-hit communities of this pandemic,

Black, Latino, Native American, and rural communities. So what does all this add up to? When I took office 50 days ago, only 8% of Americans after months, only 8% of those over the age of 65 had gotten their first vaccination. Today, that number is 65%. Just 14% of Americans over the age of 75, 50 days ago, had gotten their first shot. Today, that number is well over 70%. With new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, that came out on Monday, it means simply this. Millions and millions of grandparents who went months without being able to hug their grandkids can now do so. And the more people

are fully vaccinated, the CD will continue to provide additional guidance on what you can do in the workplace, places of worship with your friends, as well as travel. When I came into office, you may recall, I set a goal that many of you said was that kind of way over the top. I said I intended to get 100 million shots in people's arms in my first 100 days in office. Tonight, I can say we're not only going to meet that goal, we're going to beat that goal, because we've actually on track to reach this goal of 100 million shots in arms on my 60th day in office. No other country in the world has done this. None. I want to talk about the next steps we're thinking about.

First, tonight, I'm announcing that I will direct all states, tribes and territories to make all adults, people 18 and over, eligible to be vaccinated no later than May 1. Let me say that again. All adult Americans will be eligible to get a vaccine no later than May 1. That's much earlier than expected. Let me be clear. That doesn't mean everyone's going to have that shot immediately, but it means you'll be able to get in line beginning May 1. Every adult will be eligible to get their shot. And to do this, we're going to go from a million shots a day that I promised in December before I was sworn in to maintaining, beating our current pace of 2 million shots a day, outpacing the rest of the world. Secondly, at the time when every adult is eligible in May, we will launch with our partners new tools to make it easier for you to find the vaccine and where to get the shot,

including a new website that will help you first find the place to get vaccinated and the one nearest you. No more searching day and night for an appointment for you and your loved ones. Thirdly, with the passage of the American Rescue Plan, and I thank again the House and Senate for passing it, and my announcement last month of a plan to vaccinate teachers and school staff, including bus drivers, we can accelerate massive nationwide effort to reopen our schools safely and meet my goal that I stated at the same time, about 100 million shots, of opening a majority of K-8 schools in my first 100 days in office.

This is going to be the number one priority of my new Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. Fourth, in the coming weeks, we will issue further guidance on what you can and cannot do once fully vaccinated to lessen the confusion, to keep people safe and encourage more people to get vaccinated. And finally, fifth, and maybe most importantly, I promise I will do everything in my power. I will not relent until we beat this virus. But I need you, the American people. I need you. I need every American to do their part.

And that's not hyperbole. I need you. I need you to get vaccinated when it's your turn and when you can find an opportunity. And to help your family, your friends, your neighbors get vaccinated when it's your turn and when you can find an opportunity and to help your family, your friends, your neighbors get vaccinated as well. Because here's the point. If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4th, there's a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day.

That doesn't mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together after this long, hard year that will make this Independence Day something truly special. Where we not only mark our independence as a nation, but we begin to mark our independence from this virus. But to get there, we can't let our guard down. This fight is far from over, as I told the woman in Pennsylvania. I'll tell you the truth. On July 4th, with your loved ones, is the goal.

But a goal, a lot can happen. Conditions can change. The scientists have made clear that things may get worse again as new variants of the virus spread. We've got work to do to ensure that everyone has confidence in the safety and effectiveness of all three vaccines. So my message to you is this. Listen to Dr. Fauci, one of the most distinguished and trusted voices in the world. He's assured us the vaccines are safe. They underwent rigorous scientific review. I know they're safe. Vice President Harris and I know they're safe.

That's why we got the vaccine publicly in front of cameras, so for the world to see, so you could see us do it. The first lady and the second gentleman also got vaccinated. Talk to your family, friends, your neighbors, the people you know best who've gotten the vaccine. We need everyone to get vaccinated. We need everyone to keep washing their hands, stay socially distanced, and keep wearing the mask as recommended by the CDC. Because even if we devote every resource we have, beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity. And national unity isn't just how politics and politicians vote in Washington, what the loudest voices say on cable or online.

Unity is what we do together as fellow Americans. Because if we don't stay vigilant and the conditions change, then we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track. And please, we don't want to do that again. We've made so much progress. This is not the time to let up. Just as we were emerging from a dark winter into a hopeful spring and summer is not the time to not stick with the rules. I will close with this.

We have lost so much over the last year. We have lost family and friends and family and friends and friends. We have lost businesses and dreams we spent years building. We have lost time. Time with each other. And our children have lost so much time with their friends, time with their schools. No graduation ceremonies this spring.

No graduations from college. No graduation ceremonies this spring. No graduations from college, high school, moving up ceremonies. You know, and there's something else we lost. We lost faith in whether our government and our democracy can deliver on really hard things for the American people. But as I stand here tonight, we're proving once again something I've said time and time again to the probably tired of hearing me say it. I say it to foreign leaders and domestic alike. It's never, ever a good bet to bet against the American people. America is coming back. The development,

manufacturing, distribution of vaccines in record time is a true miracle of science. It's one of the most extraordinary achievements any country has ever accomplished. We also just saw the Perseverance rover land on Mars. Stunning images of our dreams that are now reality. Another example of the extraordinary American ingenuity, commitment, and belief in science and one another. And today, I signed into law the American Rescue Plan, an historic piece of legislation that delivers immediate relief to millions of people, includes $1,400 in direct rescue checks, payments. That means a typical family of four earning about $110,000 will get checks for $5,600 deposited if they have direct deposit or in a check, a treasury check. It extends unemployment benefits. It helps small businesses, lowers health care premiums for many. It provides

food and nutrition, keeps families in their homes, and it will cut child poverty in this country in half, according to the experts. And it funds all the steps I've just described to beat the virus and create millions of jobs. In the coming weeks and months, I'll be traveling along with the First Lady, the Vice President, the Second Gentleman, members of my Cabinet, to speak directly to you, to tell you the truth about how the American Rescue Plan meets the moment. And if it fails at any pace, I will acknowledge that it failed, but it will not. About how after long, dark years, one whole year, there is hope and light of better days

ahead. If we all do our part, this country will be vaccinated soon. Our economy will be on the mend. Our kids will be back in school. And we'll have proven once again that this country can do anything, hard things, big things, important things. Over a year ago, no one could have imagined what we were about to go through. But now, we're coming through it. And it's a shared experience that binds us together as a nation. We are bound together by the loss and the pain

of the days that have gone by. We're also bound together by the hope and the possibilities of the days in front of us. My fervent prayer for our country is that after all we've been through, we'll come together as one people, one nation, one America.

I believe we can and we will. We're seizing this moment. And history, I believe, will record. We faced and overcame one of the toughest and darkest periods in this nation's history darkest we've ever known i promise you we'll come out stronger with a renewed faith in ourselves a renewed commitment to one another to our communities and to our country this is the united states of america and there, nothing, from the bottom of my heart I believe this, there's nothing we can't do when we do it together.

So God bless you all. And please God, give solace to all those people who lost someone. And may God protect our troops. Thank you for taking the time to listen. I look forward to say, I'm thankful every day to actually have a chance to be here. I'm thankful for the people who lost someone. And may God protect our troops. Thank you for taking the time to listen. I look forward to seeing you. President Biden, do you consider this a new phase of the pandemic?

And that was President Joe Biden addressing the nation tonight on the one-year anniversary of when the nation really shut down over COVID-19. I must say, Recy, I'm thankful every day to actually have a human being now occupying the Oval Office who knows how to actually speak to the country when you've lost 500,000 people and you're not sitting there going, me, me, me, me, me, look at me. Yeah. And, you know, it was a transparent, you know, speech. It wasn't about grandstanding. It wasn't about trying to downplay what we're used to from Donald Trump. And I think the most important thing is that competency has been restored in the White House. And that is why we're seeing this massive scaling up of the vaccinations. And the government response does,

is actually making the difference. I know my husband, when he got the vaccine, there were National Guard out there who were helping with these mass vaccination sites. That wasn't something that the Trump administration was doing. And so I think it's really important, number one, to just acknowledge the human toll that the coronavirus

has taken on the country, as well as like President Biden laid out. There are people who have died alone who weren't even infected from coronavirus because of the restrictions that the pandemic has put in place. And so I'm really happy to see President Biden not only just sell the package that just passed, but also emphasize that we really are in this together. And I know, Dr. Carr, you're probably going to have a comment about that. But the reality is that public health is a shared responsibility. And we have to have everybody on board in order to get the hell out of this thing, whether that means vaccinations, whether that means social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks and things of that nature. If we don't all still stay vigilant in this fight against coronavirus, then we're never going to get out of it.

So I think that Joe, President Biden delivered a very, very sober and empathetic and competent speech that hopefully will resonate with the American people to keep our eyes on the prize with these Republican governors that are rolling back restrictions and people are starting to feel, you know, it's getting hot outside, it's getting nice outside. Maybe people are letting their guard down, but we have to stay vigilant in this fight. It is important, as far as I'm concerned, Erica, to have the commander-in-chief, the president of the United States, speak to the nation in a way that is soothing, that is comforting, that things will be okay, it will get better, as opposed to the constant bluster. I mean, just even the decision by Biden not to sign his name on the COVID relief checks, we saw how arrogant Trump was even with that, which actually held up the delivery of payments. And the White House has already

announced that some folks will start seeing that money deposited in their accounts this weekend. You're on mute, Erica. You keep hitting that. Oh, come on, y'all. Go ahead. Noncompliant tonight, huh? But I think that it was also really important to also, as you and Recy have both said, hear from someone who is competent, who does have a level of understanding where the country is right now, particularly because of

his own walk with grief that he has shared many, many times with all of us. But I think also that when you think about he wanted to make sure that folks who were receiving unemployment benefits, that there was not a lapse in that. So that is a level of compassion that's necessary because, you know, being very honest. And when we talk about, you know, that zero Republicans who are paid servants, so to speak, they are elected, so they are hired by their constituents that zero of them voted for $1,400 a check. As President Biden said, you're talking about a House of four, $110K or under, that's over $5K that will be deposited, direct deposited, or they'll receive a check. That may possibly be a lifeline for a House. When you think about that, Republicans, zero Republicans in the wells of the Senate voted against the 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits. That when you think about zero Republicans voting in favor of the 90 billion dollars in rental assistance that we had folks last year, just in 2020 in your home state of Texas. Texas dominated the airwaves when we talked about food insecurity.

The number of people that were sitting in their cars in the fucking summer waiting for a bag of groceries for untold number of people. Don't know if they had the electricity to cook that. But that's what but that happened under this past regime. So when we think about, you know, the zero Republicans and we talk about on this show, you know, having a long memory, think back to a few weeks ago when Roland had on this show, an expert that talked about the 2.7 years that had been taken off of black life due to COVID. And that's based on data that was captured from January to June of 2020. We've not seen yet what data from the rest of that year and moving forward will cost Black lives. So it is critically important to have somebody who's

able to communicate a message the way that President Biden has, but then also to understand that the person that occupied that space was a damn demagogue, a fucking demagogue. And to think that he is skating his ass across Florida and that 50 senators, right, they're supposed, that's supposed to be the country club, 100, 50 Republican senators said, fuck your family is exactly what they said. That's exactly what they said. That should not be forgotten. I don't that that should definitely, that they willingly will dance on the grave and continue to move forward, take trips to Cancun and beyond, but will not do the very thing that they were hired to do. So it was a really, really good, you know, a few minutes to just really kind of sit in a moment of collective experience that we've all experienced at one

level or another. Greg Carr. No, I agree. I think Joe Biden gave the paint by number speech he had to give. And for my taste, it was five minutes too long. I think the highlight was the fact that they're going to get on the road. In 1929, there was a song that became very popular in the United States, and it came out just before the Great Depression. It was called Happy Days Are Here Again. Three years later, Franklin Roosevelt debuted that as his theme song at the Democratic Party nominating convention in Chicago. And Joe Biden ended with the sunny note, we'll get through this when we're better than ever. But what Franklin Roosevelt did after he was elected in 32 was go to war with the plutocrat class that he came from, the governor of New York, Frank Roosevelt. Remember the National Recovery

Act that he started in 1933? Remember the Civilian Conservation Court? My own father came out to Tennessee Valley Authority. He says, teenagers, these boys got jobs out there. Remember the Social Security Act? Remember the Supreme Court declared the National Recovery Act unconstitutional in 1935, and Frank Roosevelt threatened to pack the courts, the court packing plan. So understand what Franklin Roosevelt did, and then he stitched it all together with these fireside chats. So I'll connect that to

Joe Biden, who wants to be Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy, whoever else in his mind, in terms of this fake national unity, because there ain't no such thing as a United States of America, except in myth making. If you want this thing to work, Joe, working class Joe, you get out there. Dr. Jill gets out there. VP Kamala gets out there. Doug gets out there. Y'all gets out there. Doug gets out there. Y'all go to Texas.

You go to Mississippi. You go to Florida. And every time you stand on the podium, once everybody's had their shots, I want you to stitch together by the skin at the elbow. The toothless white person that got a $1,400 check in Tupelo. And I want you to say, what do you think about the thing? And let them talk while you're standing there stitched to them. Because here's the thing Joe Biden got to understand.

They don't give a damn. Did you hear what Reesey said? They don't give a damn about you. They're going to take your check and vote against you. The only way you think you're going to thread this needle is that y'all get on the road like Frank Roosevelt got on the road. And it ain't you talking, Joe. It's every one of them white boys

that voted for Donald Trump. I want you to get them. And matter of fact, let them keep their red hat on. Go to Texas. Go to Plano. Go out there in West Texas. Go out there and stitch your arm together, Doug. Doug, you got a job in it, too. Stitch together. And Kamala, Madam

Vice President, I want you to go find some of them toothless white women, too. And I want you to find some of those black women and those Hispanic women, those Guatemalans and those Mexicans and those Salvadorians. I want you to stitch together, and I want you to get a nice rainbow coalition with a big

six-foot-seven white boy I hate, niggas like Kamala Harris, standing right next to you stitch. And I want you to ask him if it's important now, because his children got covered with chip because the food stamps that they use, I want him to tell the story. If y'all want to win this war,

this is when you can do it. Joe, you put on about five minutes too long. You should have stopped with. I learned a lesson during the time I was vice president under Barack Obama. Not only are we claiming credit, we're going to make y'all reelect us in the next three months when we go on

the road and crush the white nationalist party using their own voters as the ammunition. Let's see how smart you are. A lot of work ahead for this country when it comes to what's happening with COVID-19. Vaccines are critically important, but also making sure they spend the resources to get the word out. Too many in our community don't know where to go, don't know how to access them.

And so that needs to be ramped up in a considerable way. And so we certainly hope more of that is done in this country. Folks, that is it for us. We certainly appreciate it. Recy, Erica and Dr. Carr, thank you so very much. Folks, y'all want to support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered, please support us by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. You can give by going to Cash App, download our site, RMUnfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandMartin.com or Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. You can, of course, send a money order to 1625 K Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006.

Folks, that is it. Tomorrow on the show, we, of course, will have my one-hour interview with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. She's been catching much hell from the cops, from these white supremacists in Missouri, but she is standing strong and she's been reelected to a new four-year term. We'll break it all down in our one-on-one conversation from St. Louis. That is tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Talk to you later. Ha! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad listen to absolute season one taser incorporated on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs podcast

last year a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care.

Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.